In June 2016, the United Kingdom took the world by surprise with the results of its referendum on whether to remain in the European Union (EU). With a 52% majority, the country decided to leave the bloc in which it had been a member since 1973. With this outcome began the long process of Brexit negotiations between UK and the EU. The UK officially ceased to be an EU member on 31 January 2020, with a transition period up to the end of 2020. The decision to leave the EU came on the back of rising bitterness among people. Membership in the EU was seen as expensive and not beneficial to the country. One of the major campaigning points of the leave camp was the issue of immigration. Given that free movement of people is an important part of being in the EU, the party argued that leaving the EU would help the country take back control of its borders. Immigration in the UK has been on the rise since the early 2000s. It shot up further with the accession of the eight East European economies into the EU. Figure 1 shows how, leading up to Brexit, immigration from the EU to the UK was constantly increasing.

JEL Codes: F00, F30, F22, F23

2016年6月，英国就是否继续留在欧洲联盟（EU）的全民投票结果震惊了世界。该国拥有52％的多数席位，决定退出自1973年以来一直是欧盟成员国的欧盟。这一结果开始了英国与欧盟之间漫长的英国脱欧谈判进程。英国于2020年1月31日正式停止成为欧盟成员，过渡期至2020年底。人们之间日益增加的痛苦使人们决定退出欧盟。欧盟的成员资格被认为是昂贵的，并且对该国没有好处。休假营的主要竞选活动之一是移民问题。鉴于人们的自由流动是进入欧盟的重要组成部分，该党争辩说，离开欧盟将有助于该国恢复对边界的控制。自2000年代初以来，英国的移民人数一直在上升。随着八个东欧经济体加入欧盟，这一比例进一步上升。图1 说明了英国脱欧之前，从欧盟到英国的移民人数一直在增加。

JEL代码： F00，F30，F22，F23